Nail puller



Feb. 9, 1965 J. CRAWFORD, JR 3,169,010

NAIL. FULLER Filed Feb. 19, 1963 ATTORNEY ates i? 3,lfi9,dlh Patented Feb. 9, 1965 3,169,010 NAIL PULLER Jasper Crawford, Jr, Rte. 1, Blackshear, Ga. Filed Feb. 19, 1963, Ser. No. 259,559 1 Claim. (Cl. 254-19) This application relates to the inserting of one article into another and the subsequent removal of such article therefrom, and to equipment by which said article may be removed.

The invention relates particularly to apparatus for use by carpenters, cabinet makers and other woodworkers for removing nails or brads in a minimum of time and with a minimum amount of damage to the surface of the material from which the nails are being removed.

Heretofore many devices have been utilized to remove nails or the like from wood or masonry; however, these devices have been complicated, expensive, required skilled operators and relied upon leverage which disfigured the surface of the material during the pulling of the nail.

It is an object of the invention to overcome the difliculties enumerated and to provide a device for pulling nails which does not depend upon leverage during the removal thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device which can be forced into the material surrounding the nail head and which will permit such nail head to be clamped and subsequently such nail maybe extracted in a straight direction.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device for pulling nails in such a manner that the extracted nail is reusable.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation illustrating the device in position to be driven into the material which contains the nail; 7

FIG. 2, a view similar to FIG. 1 in which the jawsof the device have been driven into the material surrounding the nail head; f

FIG. 3, a side elevation illustrating the jaws of the device being clamped beneath the nail head;

FIG. 4, a side elevation with the nail partially extracted;

FIG. 5, a top plan view; and,

FIG. 6, a fragmentary enlarged section taken along the line 66 of FIG. 5.

Briefly stated the present invention is a nail puller having pliers-like jaws on one end which are adapted to be driven into the surface of the material containing a nail to be removed. The jaws are driven into the material by the impact of a sliding hammer against a stop on one of the legs of the device, after which the jaws are closed about the shank of the nail beneath the nail head and the nail is extracted by the impact of the sliding hammer against a second stop which moves the device in the opposite direction.

With continued reference to the drawing, the present invention includes an elongated member 10 having an offset end 11 terminating in an inwardly turned jaw 12. The offset end 11 is tapered so that the jaw 12 is of substantially less width than the thickness of the member 10. The lower portion of the member 10 is provided with a slot 13 in which an operating lever 14 is received. The slot '13 extends approximately midway the length of the elongated member, and the operating lever 14 extends substantially the length of the slot and has a surface to be manually gripped. One end of the lever 14 terminates in an olfset jaw 15 disposed in the direction of the jaw 12 of the member 10. The operating lever 14 is connected to the member 10 by a pivot pin 16 to permit relative pivotal movement between the jaws 12 and 15.

In order to limit the outward movement of the operating lever 14 such lever is provided with a slot 18 through which a pin 19 is freely movable. The pin 19 has a head 20 of a size which cannot pass through the slot 18. The opposite end of the pin 19 is provided with an eye 21 connected by a pivot pin 22 to the member 10 and such eye is disposed within the slot 13. A spring or other resilient member 23 is disposed about the pin 19 intermediate the eye 21 and the operating lever 14, and such spring will normally urge the upper portions of the member 10 and the operating lever 14 away from each other.

The member 10 has an enlarged portion 25 intermediate its ends forming a stop for a sliding weight or hammer 26 which is movable axially of a cylindrical upper portion 27 of the member 10. The free end of the cylindrical upper portion 27 terminates in an abutment 28 forming a stop against the movement of the sliding hamrner 26 in an upward direction.

In the use of the device the jaws 12 and 15 are placed into contact with the surface of a piece of wood or other material 30 in which a nail 31 having a head 32 is disposed. The jaws are caused to straddle the head 32 of the nail, the lever 14 and member 10 are manually pressed toward each other and the sliding hammer 26 is moved sharply against the enlarged portion 25 and the impact thereof will drive the jaws 12 and 15 into the wood 30 to a position below the nail head 32. The upper portion of the operating lever 14 is then manually moved toward the member 10 against the pressure of the spring 23 and such movement causes the jaws 12 and 15 to move toward each other and to contactthe nail 31 below the head 32. While pressure is being maintained on the operating lever 14, the sliding hammer 26 is moved sharply in the opposite direction into contact with the abutment 28 and the impact force will extract the nail 31 from the wood 30.

It will be noted that since the nail is being withdrawn in a straight direction there is no tendency to bend the nail and after such nail has been completely removed it can be reused.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by thatwhich is illustrated in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the accompanying claim.

What is claimed is:

Apparatus for pulling nails comprising an elongated member having a slot therein extending from adjacent one end approximately midway the length of the elongated member, a first inwardly turned jaw located on said one end, an operating lever having a portion for manual manipulation located within said slot and extending substantially the length of such slot and pivotally mounted on said elongated member, a second jaw mounted on one end of said operating lever in opposed relation to said first jaw, spring means urging said opposed jaws away from each other, an enlarged portion forming a stop intermediate the ends of said elongated member, said elongated member having a cylindrical upper portion, an abutment on the free end of said upper portion, and a sliding hammer movably mounted on said upper portion intermediate said enlarged portion and said abutment whereby the impact force of said sliding hammer against 3 V 4 Will be moved beneath the nail head by movement of References Cited by the Examiner 7 said operating lever and the impact force of the sliding UNITED STATES PATENTS hammer against said abutment will extract the nail, said spring means comprising an elongated pin having one end 157,683 12/74 Guild r pivotally secured within the said slot and the other end 5 377,565 2/38 Lane 7 extending through an elongated slot in the said operating 1,747,053 2/30 Colenck 254 19 lever and with an enlarged head of sufficient dimension FQREIGN'PATENTS to limit p1votal movement of tie said operatlng lever away 35,866 6/86 Germany from the said elongated member, and spring means nor- I mally urging said operating lever away from the said 10 60358 10/12 Switzerland elongated member, I DONLEY I. STOCKING, Primary Examiner. 

